Beltane: history, traditions, rituals. Part II.
Continuing the discussion of Beltane's history, traditions and rituals as well as its connection to Walpurgis Nacht and sexuality.
Hello,
Today I am continuing the conversation about the traditions related to the 1st of May, or to Beltane, as I refer to the celebration. In Part I, we discussed what are the main themes and the underlying idea of the sabbat, and then had a historical overview of some of the emblematic traditions: Beltane fires, oat cakes, and maypole.
In Part II, I am going to talk about the connection I see between Walpurgis Nacht and Beltane, what Beltane and Samhain have in common, and what we, as modern-day people, can do to attune to this seasonal celebration. And! To add a bit of spice, I share a less-common – esoteric or forgotten – view on sexuality.
Sit back and enjoy!
Witches, Fires and Walpurgis Nacht
There are many – rather similar – witch-related customs that have been documented across European countries over the years. To this day in some parts of Europe people still burn an effigy representing a witch on the eve of Beltane. I witnessed it with my own eyes when I lived in the Czech Republic where this tradition is explained as a way of burning the one who has kept the winter around for so long and therefore it is meant to let the spring begin.
The intention is similar to the fake burning of cailleach which I spoke about here in Part I. In many European countries, there are celebrations of spring’s complete arrival happening on the 1st of May – many christened after Saint Walpurga. The underlying idea of the spring fully stepping into its rights at this time – the mid-point of Spring! – can be related to an old pagan tradition that has morphed over time and under the influence of different regional customs and religions.
To understand this notion better, we need to remember that for our European ancestors – who were mainly pastoralists and farmers – the work year was pretty much divided between Summer and Winter, the former starting on the 1st of May and the latter on the 1st of November. Hence people did see Beltane as the day when Winter was totally banished until Samhain. However, in the case of Walpurgis Nacht, the notion goes further by portraying witches not as personifications of winter, but as servants of the Devil – let’s have a closer look at that.
Walpurgis Nacht and Beltane are the same thing?
Walpurgis Nacht is known to be a big sabbat of witches. On that night the male and female sorcerers gather on Brocken – the highest peak of Harz mountain in Germany – and spend the night in ecstatic celebration with a bonfire, reputedly indulging in debauch and honoring the Devil. Such understanding, of course, made people want to protect themselves from the evil influence and, oftentimes, to hunt the witches down.
Doesn’t the description of the witches’ holiday at least distinctly remind you of Beltane? A fire on a hill can simply be a Beltane Fire and leaping over the flames, dancing, and delighting in sensual desires – all are the traditional Beltane customs.
When Christianity came to be, those who did not subscribe to the dominant religious narrative and worshipped many Gods or natural forces were considered sinful servants of God’s only opponent – the Devil. Logically, Church wanted those people converted, and if they showed resistance, they had to be gone and forgotten.
In order to exterminate a group of people that threatens your worldviews, you need to find a generic term to use as their name, define the group’s core habits and beliefs as unacceptable and immoral, and then make sure that people outside of this group fear and hate them enough to do the work for you. How? We fear what we do not understand, so misinterpretation is key.
I believe that’s why pagans were made out to be witches: feared and hunted.
Lastly, I want to share some thoughts on the orgies witches were said to have on Walpurgis Night.
In esoteric thought, sexual energy is the Life Energy of a specific frequency. It is the force that runs through all living things and enables us to create anything from a poem to a plane, from an ideology to another human being. It can be powerfully cultivated during sexual intercourse but sex is not the source of it and definitely not the only way to express it.
Sexual energy is the Life Energy — the force that runs through all living things and enables us to create anything from a poem to a plane, from an ideology to another human being.
We use sexual energy when we are connected to ourselves, when we go after what we desire, and when we are the creators of our lives, actively participating in the process instead of letting it happen to us. It is power. And there are circumstances in which an individual’s power can threaten a system.
The sexual expression of the “witches” – whether exaggerated by the religious institutions or not – was branded sinful. Can you see where I am going with this?
There is more I could say about the pagan love-making traditions, the taboo topic of sexuality and its esoteric interpretation but for the sake of keeping this article shorter and focused on Beltane, I am going to leave it here. Stayed up to date and learn more by subscribing below.
Connection to the spirit world
On the Wheel of the Year, Beltane sits right across from Samhain. Through the popularization and marketing of Halloween, which is another name for Samhain, it became a common notion that on that night spirits of the dead are visiting our world, though the perception of this phenomenon differs from person to person. It is less known, however, that Beltane is the second night of the year when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is thin. Around Beltane, people would remember the deceased, pray for them and ask the departed family members for help in whatever the descendants want to bring to life: kids, crops, ideas.
We find a lot of pre-Christian and Christianized celebrations in spring – before and after the 1st of May – when it is common to remember the deceased ones.
This concept might make some of you uncomfortable. Today in the Western world ‘death’ is a taboo topic and the dead are often portrayed in entertainment mediums as malicious, terrifying creatures that want to eat our brains or get a hold of our souls.
To add a layer of disregard for those who came before us, today we, as a society, are fixated on Life which is mirrored in social trends – like, the worship of youthfulness and disrespect and fear of aging – as well as in our economic system, which is linear and upward-reaching, accepting only one type of change which has “more” of something deemed good and “less” of whatever is the opposite.
But it hasn’t t always been like that.
For our ancestors, death was a natural part of life, the same as birth, a transition from childhood into womanhood or manhood, or a creation of a family. The deceased family members were honored as the ones now supporting the living from the other side*. We find a lot of pre-Christian and Christianized celebrations in spring – before and after the 1st of May – when it is common to remember the deceased ones.
Beltane can be seen as a peak moment of the spring season of remembering when the “wall” separating the world of the dead from the world of the living is the thinnest, therefore it is easier for your prayers and thanks to be heard and for you to receive guidance and energy you ask your departed family members for.
*I am not implying that the traditions of protecting oneself from malevolent spirits should be disregarded. What I want to get across, is that the spirits are more often than not willing to help rather than harm.
How to celebrate Beltane in the modern world?
Clearly, the ideas of the celebrations on the Wheel of the Year were close to our ancestors’ minds and hearts because of the way they lived: connected to the land and dependent on the cycles of nature. Yet, I believe we still can take that historical and folkloric knowledge and ground it in our modern lives, no matter how disconnected from nature we may feel at the moment. How? Read on.
In the section below I will cover:
Astrological and calendar-based Beltane: when are they and which one to choose?
Down-to-Earth ways to celebrate, in a ritual form or not (no magical powers required!)
Additional historical information for inspiration & deeper understanding.
A question for personal inquiry to utilize the themes of this time of the year.
And yes, this part has more of spiritual & esoteric understandings than the public article.
Until the 1st of May (😉) you can still get a 1-year subscription to my newsletters with a 50% discount — for 20€ — and get access to over 2000 additional words below and the future Olde Ways articles too. All that is to, hopefully, inspire you to find ways to connect with the wider world, with nature and its cycles.
Not sure if it’s what you are looking for? Sign up for the 7-day free trial below and read the full article.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to interwoven to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.